A Native Car
country far away, melt in the horizon, run into each other,
recede as we approach. The land curves gendy, in waves
so smooth, it is as if each ea$y rise were but the rounded
bosom of the earth, each gentle dip but her soft movement
as she slips through space; and the hours go with nothing
to count them by but the fierce steps of the sun, the Lord
Absolute in his own land. He goeth forth as a strong man
to run a race, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof
He beats almost intolerably on my lap, which die shadow
of the car's hood wiU not cover.
I am going the cheap way, being poor and also demo-
cratic by nature. An Armenian with a big hat and nose
and very small eyes collared me as I got out of the boat
at Beyrout and inveigled me into this little car. He
promised me the company of two English ladies and a
colonel The two ladies have turned out to be Greeks
from Constantinople settled in Aleppo and now going to
visit a brother who is a pastry-cook in Baghdad, where I
have promised to call on diem, The only other traveller
is a young Levantine in a b&ret, very obliging and polite,
but not at all like a colonel in any army. We are all very
contented, and share each other's provisions, and the
ladies give me water from a canvas bag kept cool by the
moving air. This is my first journey across the desert; I
have no useful knowledge*
* [5]